A tale of two halves for Oxford

OXFORD – It was a complete reversal of fortune – and momentum – Friday night at Oxford.

The Blackhawks fell behind by 10 points after one quarter, and found themselves trailing 27-19 at halftime. Delhi made five out of seven three-pointers and shot 60 percent from the field in the first half to grab the early thing. “We came out flat again, that has been one of our more consistent things,” said Oxford coach Tim Davis. “We didn’t change defenses, but we came out and played the way we are capable. We were just all over them.”

Delhi scored just four points in the second half, and the eight-point lead turned into a 22-blowout win for Oxford. Caden Izard was 8-for-11 from the field to finish with a season-high 17 points, and Andrew Golden went 8-for-12 from the field to also scored 17 points. Justin Schray contributed an all-around floor game dealing out five assists to go with five steals, six rebounds, and seven points.

ADIRONDACK – Sherburne-Earlville combated Adirondack’s superior size and strength with quickness and tenacity to win a hard-fought road game on Friday night.

Sam Caton, outsized on the interior, put 15 points in the books with his ability to drive to the basket. Forward Cole Hodges, also fleet afoot, added 10. “They were a very physical team, but we took it to the rim strong and drew a lot of fouls,” said S-E coach Kevin Vibbard. “We didn’t convert as many of those foul shot opportunities as we needed to.”

S-E was 10-for-27 from the foul line in the game, its worst effort of the season, and was 5-of-12 from the charity stripe in the last quarter. “Some nights, you just don’t shoot it well,” Vibbard said. “But we played really good defense. When you give up just 41 points, you’re going to win a lot of games.”

DEPOSIT – With leading scorer Justin Hofer slowed by a nagging injury, Unadilla Valley seniors, Brett Smith, and Brandon Miles, picked up the slack on the scoring end in Friday night’s road win.

Smith, coming off a two-point night against Walton, had a team-high 14 points, while Miles shrugged off a slow start to the season scoring a season-best 12. Jesse Ranger added nine points and Kurt Haycook eight to round out a balanced scoring lineup, and UV pulled away in the third outscoring the Lumberjacks, 14-3. “They were getting some easy baskets in transition against us in the first half, but we clamped down on defense in the third, and we continued to make shots,” said UV coach Matt Osborne. “It was nice to see four guys (other than Hofer) score at least eight points. Everyone played and had a chance to contribute.”

“We just got off to a great start. We hit some threes and we had some fast-break points,” said Greene coach Rick Smith. “They kind of made a game of it in the middle quarters, but it was nice to finish the way we did.”

Greene led by 11 entering the fourth quarter. Carlin had six in the last quarter and Adams four to extend the lead to nearly 20 points.